This evening, I had all four Juveniles in view. Wonderful aerobatics, chasing each other, flipping upside down to tag another mid air. Sheraton Staff mentioned to me that they are putting on a wonderful display for the hotel guests. It’s nice to see all four together and staying in the direct area of the Sheraton Hotel.
The best is yet to come!!! Photographers get your camera’s!!!
Remember that the family rearing process is far from being over, as its now dads turn. Over the next 30 plus days, the adult males will be doing most of the flight and hunt training with the fledglings, leaving the resident adult females some time to themselves to catch up on some most needed sleep and de-stress time. WE often see the adult females on the nest ledges doing some est box or nest tray rearranging and sleeping.
The fledglings will still be completely dependant on the adults for food, protection and support for the next 30 to 60 days as they will be staying very close to home around the nest buildings.
We often forget that the fledglings (I guess we can call them juveniles now, as they are the equivalent of teenagers in their mind set), still have no idea that they have actually been eating birds, as their food has been prepared by their parents. Many of the food packages have already had their heads removed, and with many of the feathers already having been removed, and as such, the juveniles have had no idea what they have actually been eating!
Of course its birds and only birds, but the young peregrines must be taught this!
They must be taught how to chase, stoop and dive for things and encouraged to chase their parents for the food. They must be shown what to hunt, how to hunt, how to catch it and how to kill it and then how to prepare it. The fledglings still have a long way to go before they are actually able to catch food themselves!
For the next few weeks, its all fun and games (at least for the fledglings),, but they are actually be taught important life skills that will prepare them for survival on their own this fall.
The fledglings, (juveniles) will succumb to a couple of thousand years to migrate in the fall and they will be on their own.
Most all of the resident territorial nesting adults at our southern Ontario urban nest sites will NOT migrate, and they will stay on territory all year. The adults have learned that you they can survive in the city all year long, (urban adaptation), and have figured out that there is an abundance of food around all year long, ideal habitat, no predation and lots of warmth from the buildings, especially from that of the illuminated signs that they roost on.
But the young of the year will go! Being creatures of habit (almost to a fault), what they know, they deal with,,, what they don’t know, they avoid! So its up to the parents to teach them as much as they can over next two months so the fledglings have the necessary life skills to be able to survive on their own. The fledgling juveniles typically migrate south to central and southern America for the winter months and have a very long trip south with many dangers.
Also remember, that the peregrine has more than an 80% mortality rate until it reaches breeding age (typically between two and three years of age), with the higher percentage of this mortality happening in the first year of their lives.
For all of the photographers out there, this is the best opportunity for some incredible photos of the adults training the fledglings over the next 30 plus days!! This is the time to really enjoy your peregrines,, so get out there with your cameras and spend some time with them!
Both Sunni and Skyla are home on the nest ledge for the night. If you’ve been checking the web cam the past few days, then you’ve noticed they’re suddenly spending much more time there.
Now that the window washing activities have completed over on the adjacent condos, mom has encouraged them to come back home over the past week. The past few days I’ve observed them flying to and from the condo rooftops as well. Great to see them doing so well!
I know I saw Haven and Malik and I definitely saw two juveniles. I think I saw a third one, simply because there was a *lone flier*.
After eleven minutes of scanning buildings, the very threatening dark sky in the south and the rest of the sky I found two juveniles on the Canada Square building, just sitting! Two minutes late Malik breezed in to check on things and flew over Canada Square which set the juvies into action and a whole lot of squawking. One rose to meet Malik and both of them flew towards Rio-Can (RC) just as the second juvie took flight and also headed to RC.
Malik flew to a perch on the south face of RC and one of the juvies perched for a minute or two on the antenna atop Canada Square. A gull came wandering into peregrine airspace from somewhere south and flew over the bus bays to the Y/E intersection. The juvie on the antenna launched himself after the gull and overshot the bird. He just could not help himself!! The gull must have known it was dealing with a juvie because it made a quick turn and reversed direction and when the juvie was back on its tail the gull simply turned again and flew off. The juvie then flew to the side of RC. What was he thinking? Better yet, what was he going to do with the gull had he caught it?? I think a case of **eyes bigger than tummy**.
Haven flew north and disappeared but she returned in 15 minutes and a juvie REALLY squawked because Haven had a food parcel. There were two juveniles in the air and one took the food parcel from Haven and flew onto Canada Square to an area where I could not see it. A mere two minutes later a juvie circled Canada Square and then landed on the top south east corner of RC. A second juvie went into a slight stoop south on Yonge.
I saw Haven circling Canada Square and then she disappeared on the east of RC. Malik remained where he had been for ages on the south face of the building. Then I left.
Lyn
July 7th - 2014
Some really great news to report! During my spot check of the young Scarborough fledglings on Monday, I received a telephone call from Ann who reported reading a report of peregrine activity in Oshawa by the president and CEO at the Lakeridge Hospital.
By the time I got home that evening, I opened e-mail communication from the President and CEO of Lakeridge Health Oshawa with a report and suspicions of territorial peregrine activity at the hospital. After reviewing his photos that he attached to his e-mail, it was easy to re-confirm that his feathered visitors were indeed peregrines, (peregrines that are known to us), and his report of the harassment by two adult peregrines that his maintenance staff had received earlier while conducting roof inspections suggested that something else was going on other than just territorial behaviour.
A site visit was scheduled for the afternoon of July 10th.
Stay tuned…………….
Monday July 7th - 2014
A quickly spot check this evening of the three fledglings couldn’t have been better timed!! Just as I arrived and drove around from the south side to the north side of the building, I could see at least one fledgling roosting way up on the upper most part of the Yellow Pages illuminated sign on the south elevation, and what appeared to be another juvenile in the centre portion of the very top of the triangular roof where Ruben usually sits to over see his territory. As I drove around to the west side, then to the north side and parked my vehicle, one of the fledglings took flight from the upper most portion of the YP roof where I had earlier spotted it. It was vocalizing as it took flight, and seconds later, Ruben - (dad) flew past this upper roof elevation with food in his clutches.
The airborne juvenile flew underneath dad and turned and rolled sideways,,, and proceeded to grab the food package from dad while they were both in flight!!
It was a spectacular and truly an amazing thing to see given that the fledglings were having difficulty just holding their altitude only a few days ago!!! The juvenile, now with food in hand - (must have Lorne - Blue tape), flew around upper portion of the entire building, (directly over my head and was illuminated by the setting sun),, gaining altitude, and eventually landed (after its second revolution around the upper portion of the building), on the very top of the peak of the YP most upper rooftop where it had taken off from.
Suddenly, a second juvenile appeared in my view, standing on the very same spot where its sibling had taken off from - (from the same upper peak rooftop, obviously hidden from my view by the white pipes that run up the slopped roof edges). Seconds after the fledgling landed with the food, I watched in amazement the two fledglings share the food in quite a tender family moment. MURPHY’s LAW,,,, NO CAMERA!!!!!! Yes, I didn’t bring my camera this time,, one of the only days throughout the bandings and fledge watches over the past 4 weeks that I didn’t bring my camera 
!!!!!!!!
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you which juvenile it was, as without the zoom lens and the digital enhancement to blow up the photos or a scope, the height is way tooo high to identify who is who other than being able to identify them as juveniles or adults.
Oh well, I did get to see this with my own eyes, first hand never-the-less, and couldn’t wait to get home to tell Marion that all three are doing just fine!!!
I have attached some CPF stock photos of the Scarborough Yellow Pages building so you have an idea of the height of the building and the actual rooftop peak.
I will NEVER again leave my camera at home when doing site visits!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once again I am not sure exactly how many peregrines I saw today. Going out on a limb I think I did see the family of five – all at different times.
When I first arrived one juvenile (solo) flew across Duplex Ave and went west. Shortly after that I saw the *twosome tandem* flying together. They landed on the south west corner of Rio-Can (RC). Six minutes later a juvie flew in from the south and also landed on Rio-Can.
Later on I saw the twosome in the air, they really do fly beautifully together, over RC, head towards Canada Square, veer off and fly over the bus bays instead and then one kicked into high speed and a stoop over Duplex. The second juvie did the same and was actually chasing a small bird which flew for its life. I do not know if this was a successful hunt or not as the two, hunter and hunted, disappeared behind 53 Division. At this point there was still one peregrine left on the south west corner of RC but I could not ID it as either a juvenile or adult.
Malik showed up briefly, much later on and did a sortie over RC which brought a juvenile out, squawking and chasing him until he picked up speed and simply flew off. The juvie returned to RC.
At 6:45pm I spotted Haven on the third ledge south. She looked as if she was having another bad feather day and I am sure she had been sleeping on that ledge. She eventually flew off.
All the juveniles are flying very well. They do struggle against the wind and none can fly like the adults yet but their flights are strong and high!
Lyn
Bruce and I decided yesterday that we needed to get out on a road trip and Stoney Creek was on the agenda. We both have quite an affinity to Athena and Craig as we have been tracking them and their activities for the past two years now. We were both elated when we found them in the quarry with young and were now itching to see how well they were all doing.
When we first arrived at the quarry, there wasn’t a bird in sight. We checked the nest cavity and scanned the top wall but were unable to see a single bird. We checked the ages of the young ones and they are all now between 45 and 50 days of age. Too old to still be in the nest we hope and yet too young for any major off campus travels. We scrambled into the car and decided to circle the concession to see if we could spot anyone from the various angles on the sideroads. Our first circle to the west netted nothing. Then a circle to the east. Still nothing. Back to the top end of the quarry we went and just then a Turkey vulture came in really low over the top of the quarry. If anyone was home this big bird was about to get run out of town. Blam!! In comes Athena and gives it a whack. The vulture struggled to regain its composure when Whap, another strike by Athena. The vulture beat a hasty retreat out of the territory and we scrambled back over to the west side to see if this activity brought out any of the young ones.
As soon as we made our way down the road just past the entrance to the quarry we could see Athena flying above the open field to the north and we could clearly hear a juvenile calling. Craig joined Athena in the swoop passes of the field and then next thing you know it, we had a young one in the air! As it turns out, the juvenile was Ariel, the only female, and she was flying like mad after her mother. They flew together back towards the quarry and disappeared from view behind the berm. A moment later she was back and this time she was being chased. by a second juvenile. This turned out to be Stoney and the two played a rough and tumble game of aerial chase of which Ariel felt the need to be really vocal about. Two in view!! Fantastic!! They both circled back towards the quarry and again were lost from view behind the berm. We didn’t have to wait long before they were back yet again and this time we had all three as Cameron decided to join in the fun. Both Athena and Craig were also flying with them and at one point we had all five birds present and flying together.
The rest spot for the young ones was the same hydro pole that Athena was roosting on the last time I was there. Ariel and Stoney both landed on the wires and were content to sit their briefly for a rest. Ariel took off down into the quarry while Stoney remained on the wire, but not alone. A moment later, a Red Winged blackbird flew in and landed feet away from the young male. Stoney didn’t quite know what to do with this information and so just sat there flipping his head in play at the blackbird who did not find Stoney equally amusing. After a minute or two, the blackbird took a run at little Stoney, knocking him off the wire and grabbing his tail as they went.
We left the family at rest in the quarry by mid afternoon and were feeling quite pleased to see that all three juveniles were doing amazing. Thanks to Bruce for the wonderful outing and congratulations to the quarry for such a successful breeding season!!
On Friday, Winston was out in the evening doing a site check on the fab four and observed little Blue taking his first approved trip off the property to the north hydro tower. Winston reports;
The William Osler peregrines took a gull!! I didn’t see it but security pointed out the remains. I started to do a head count but was unsure if everyone was around as they wouldn’t sit still long enough to be sure. I was able to photograph Blue and Red for sure and both adults. Tag was very much on the agenda. Once things settled down I started my head count and found a juvenile in the north tower with no reaction from the adults. This was a sanctioned off campus visit. One adult took off hunting and I continued to try and locate all four young. Three juveniles were all huddled together on the eastern H, the parents roost spot (not so anynore). I went to check on the one in the north tower and it was indeed Blue. A great night of flying with all four juveniles in sight.
Winston
The William Osler family of four are definately on their way. The juveniles are all now showing some great skills in flight and are no longer in need of our help. Tonight the young ones were all practicing their talon touching in preparation for the food exchanges and hunting training that they will receive during the rest of the summer. The family looks fantastic and we are so excited to see them doing so well.
The William Osler Name the Chick contest will be closing shortly and the four juveniles will all be receiving their official names. We look forward to the staff’s selections this year and anticipate that they will wear them well. I will update you as soon as the names are selected.
I have way too many people to thank for this watch going so incredibly well. The William Osler nest site hosts have been amazing and I must thank Ross for his continued support and assistance. The great folks at Paragon Security have been amazing and I can’t thank you enough for all of your assistance. Of course, I also must thank the incredible team of individuals that made the watch possible! My heartfelt thank you goes out to Rob, Bonnie, Lucie, Winston, Mark and Bruce for all of their generous support and gift of their time. We did it everyone! Great job.